


egg-cell-ence

by side_stickie_note (lost_stickie_note)



Series: tinysparks [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Accidental Acquisitions, Fluff, Forgive me if I got the bio lab stuff wrong, I was a chem major, Jongin is clumsy, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:15:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24048016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_stickie_note/pseuds/side_stickie_note
Summary: Kyungsoo gets Jongin as a lab partner. Not exactly his first choice, but perhaps not so bad after all.
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai
Series: tinysparks [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1734781
Comments: 15
Kudos: 82
Collections: Challenge #1 — Beginning





	egg-cell-ence

**Author's Note:**

> This felt random when I conceived the idea, but I really liked it so ran with it. It's a bit of a mess, so apologies. And heh, egg puns. Also, whew, keeping it to 1k was harder than I thought it'd be.

Kyungsoo’s first impression of Jongin is that he’s rather cute and big, almost like an oversized golden retriever, clearly tall even from where Kyungsoo is sitting at his seat. His second impression is that Jongin is sort of a klutz, a quality that would almost be endearing paired with the other boy’s seemingly athletic body if it isn’t for the fact that Kyungsoo gains this knowledge by way of firsthand experience, Jongin turning and knocking a few petri dishes over. Kyungsoo’s first instinct is to help, and they nearly bump heads when he does, Jongin not seeing him as he crouches down to pick up the pieces. Kyungsoo politely nods when Jongin turns into a fountain of apologies, and he gets a slight sinking feeling as the other boy spins his kindness into an invitation to follow Kyungsoo back to his seat.

And that is how Kyungsoo ends up getting stuck with Jongin as a lab partner.

Kyungsoo doesn’t want to say _stuck_ exactly, since Jongin is not the _worst_ partner he’s ever had for a lab or group project. (He really would rather not remember the time he had to make a presentation for that one class with Baekhyun and Chanyeol, spending about half the time just getting them to focus.) In fact, Jongin is very willing to follow Kyungsoo’s lead, the other boy admitting that he had only signed up to fulfill his required science credit. So it’s only natural that Jongin cheerfully hands the reins over to biology major Kyungsoo.

The real problem: Jongin is an accident waiting to happen.

He notices it slightly on their first day in lab, Jongin misreading the amount of time their agarose solution needed to be heated, the mixture boiling over when Kyungsoo was gone. Or when Jongin nearly loads the gel with the wrong pipettes, almost 10 times the amount they should use to run their experiment. Needless to say, Kyungsoo feels a bit more run-down by the end of the period than he would like, though he does count his blessings that they finish in time at all.

But once this fact is evident, Kyungsoo prepares – he gives all of Jongin’s measurements a double check, all the stray equipment is pushed to the far end of the table on Kyungsoo’s side, out of Jongin’s reach, and every solution and test tube is labeled meticulously.

And it’s within a few weeks that Jongin quickly develops into a study buddy, bordering on friend, the other boy eager to soak up any advice or direction Kyungsoo can give, coming to the library after baseball practice, still sweaty and half out of breath, their twice a week sessions after Kyungsoo finishes tutoring students a habit now.

Kyungsoo squints at the computer screen, trying to figure out why Jongin’s graph of their most recent lab data doesn’t look like his own, fiddling around with it. Damn Excel. He gives a huff of relief when it works, the feeling of triumph washing over him. “Thanks, Kyungsoo.” Jongin looks up at him with grateful wide eyes, and Kyungsoo ignores the fluttering in his chest. Okay, so he might have the _tiniest_ crush but so miniscule that it’s hardly worth mentioning. It had snuck up on him like a shadow, perhaps the first inklings two weeks ago when Jongin had gleefully shown him the score he had gotten their first exam, wrapping him up in a soul-crushing hug. Kyungsoo likes to think that he’d be immune to the fact that Jongin smells like clean laundry and coconut shampoo. But he isn’t. Jongin gives him another one of those death-grip (not that he minds) embraces before he leaves Kyungsoo alone in the library to reconsider his (love)life.

The lab this time around involves studying embryos, certainly a higher level of difficulty than week one, and Kyungsoo watches nervously as Jongin brings the three eggs over to their lab table, the tray seemingly not the safest in Jongin’s hands. But thankfully none of them end up on the floor. They spend the requisite hour studying and sketching, the eggs already prepped. And after, the two of them make plans to come back and check on their embryos in the incubator every few days as outlined in their lab manual. It makes Kyungsoo nervous, these meetings at weird hours due to Jongin’s practices and Kyungsoo’s tutoring, often just the two of them, unlike at the library.

Once or twice, Kyungsoo wonders if he should just get up the courage, but he chickens out each time.

“Hey, Jongin, we need to be quick today. I’m covering for another tutor.” Kyungsoo startles as he rounds the corner, the chirping giving it away, the sight of Jongin holding a baby chick in his cupped hands greeting him. Oh no. “…it hatched?” Jongin nods at him silently, eyes widened in wonder as he sets the chick down, back in the incubator. “It did. Not sure what we did wrong though.” A pause. “We should name it.” Jongin looks at him thoughtfully. "How about Sehun?"

“Sehun.” The name sounds fitting somehow. "Are we going to keep it?"

Jongin nods. "We can tell the professor on Monday, maybe find it a home later, but I've been looking up how to take care of a baby chick online." Kyungsoo's chest tightens at the blush that tints Jongin's cheeks. "I think we can handle caring for Sehun together for a bit." Jongin bites his lower lip. "Maybe we can start by finding where to buy some chick starter feed?"

Kyungsoo agrees, crouching and carefully reaching out a hand to pet the chick for the first time, soft and downy. "I'm in. Want to go after class tomorrow?"

"Sounds good to me." Jongin smiles at him, glowing. “Looks like we now share joint custody.”

The words come out before Kyungsoo can stop them, the flush heating his face immediately. “Only if you promise me a date first.”

Like Kyungsoo says, an accident waiting to happen.

**Author's Note:**

> ♡🥚♡
> 
> Twitter: [@sidestickienote](https://twitter.com/sidestickienote)  
> CuriousCat: [@sidestickienote](https://curiouscat.qa/sidestickienote)


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